Coincidence? I've never heard of anything like this... I wouldn't be surprised if most elders actually condemned this kind of thing. "Oh, the end is coming, and you're going to a third-world-country to marry someone? Just focus on preaching..."

I mean, there was a thread a few days ago (though it could've been on Reddit) about how someone was condemned by the elders and the congregation at large for going abroad to volunteer and help some refugees instead of preaching...

Though it is a strange kind of coincidence... Maybe it's the entire congregation that's insane?

It could be pure coincidence, but just thought I’d throw it out there to see if there’s some bizarre JW logic to this

I’m no longer close enough to the group to hear any details so... could be purely coincidence.

Thoughts?

I can tell you of Muslims, Baptists, Catholics, Pentecostal, Santeros and Atheists people who also have left the country, married some random person in a third world country and who have returned to the US alone.

Being a JW is no different than being of any other religion, no matter how much they claim they aren't part of the world.

For some (many? most?) countries there is a "quota" that the US allows to immigrate per year. Some countries (i dunno, say Norway or Sweden) never come close to the quota because, if you live there, why would you go to the US? Life is as good or better where you already are. If a US citizen marries someone from there, they can likely come back to the US together.

On the other hand, if the US citizen marries someone from a mud hovel village in Burundi or Nicaragua or Bangladesh, the quota from those countries is met probably by February 15. They can apply for their spouse to join them later in hte US, but it may take months or years before the paperwork is resolved.